Citi To Cut Around 3,500 Tech Jobs In China Under Global Restructuring

(RTTNews) - Banking major Citigroup Inc. announced plans to reduce around 3,500 technology in China as part of its ongoing broader initiative to streamline global tech operations, reports said. With the planned resturcturing, the lender aims to strengthen risk and data management frameworks.

The planned job cuts will be at its two major China-based technology centers in Shanghai and Dalian. The workforce reduction will impact the China Citi Solution Centres and are expected to be completed by early fourth quarter.

It is expected that some roles will be relocated to other global technology hubs.

Meanwhile, Citi's local banking subsidiary Citibank (China) Co. will be unaffected, and the firm continues to invest in the unit to support corporate and institutional clients in the country.

Marc Luet, head of Japan, Asia North and Australia, and Banking, said, "We are committed to our corporate and institutional clients in China and supporting their cross-border banking needs, as well as clients across our international network who do business there."

Further, Citi is continuing to pursue the establishment of a wholly owned securities and futures company in China.

Citi earlier had announced plans to restructure its global tech division and reduce dependency on external IT contractors, aiming to enhance regulatory compliance and data governance.

In March, the company announced internal plans to overhaul its information technology operations by significantly reducing its dependence on external contractors and expanding its internal tech workforce.

According to an internal presentation, the bank planned to cut the proportion of IT contractors from 50 percent to 20 percent, though no specific timeline was provided.

Last month, Reuters reported that the bank had already started reducing around 200 IT contractor positions in China, signaling the start of the transformation.

The move reportedly was in response to growing regulatory scrutiny and penalties for failing to address long-standing deficiencies in data management and risk controls.